Does anyone Crossfit and do Triathlons?

[starryfish]

Whats your training schedule look like?

[joenali]

I have never done crossfit , but I don't now how I would fit any kind of class in with training.

[So_Fetch]

I've had to cut way back on the crossfit once my tri classes started. Technically my tri class is 3 days a week:

Mon - run/bike or swim
Wednesday - run/bike or swim (M&W vary each week)
Saturday - run/bike

Plus I do a 2 hour run training class on Thursday, and my crossfit gym doesn't have classes on Sunday.
So I try to get those in Tuesday and Friday.

I only work out after work or weekend mornings, never weekday mornings (which might be helpful)

[Susie]

I've never done Crossfit, but I have trained for tri's from sprint through HIM (currently).

I don't think you can do much of anything else concurrently with HIM (or longer) training. For example, this weekend, between Sat. and Sun, I have a 50 mile ride with a 20 min bricked run, a 10 mile run, and a swim workout. That's enough thanks! I am already at 6 days/week, with 8-9 workouts/week.

I bet you could do CF concurrently with training for a sprint tri if it was really important to you. But I'm not even sure about an Oly tri.

One of the hardest parts about triathlon for me is fitting it all in. I can't short any of 3 totally different disciplines, week in, week out. Adding CF, basically a 4th, would make scheduling really difficult. You'd definitely have to do doubles. It's up to you whether you have that kind of time and want to spend it that way.  If I had something like CF that I really wanted to do though, I would not try to juggle tri's with it.  I would pick one endurance sport (running OR swimming OR biking, two at most) to juggle with it.

[starryfish]

I'm just signed up for a sprint this summer. I have done sprints before,so I know I can do it.

[kams]

I think you can do both, it just depends on how much time you have available. Search "crossfit" on the triathlon forum of slowtwitch - there's some conversation about it there.

I am not a all trying to compare the two, but I am at 10-12hrs/wk w/ HIM training, and do 2 hrs of bodypump a week. If youre okay with doing doubles, it may work out just fine. Again, I'm not trying to say that bodypump is anything like crossfit, but it's not necessarily triathlon-specific and I feel that it works in nicely for me. I also attribute staying injury free to strength training (among a few other things).

[gumi]

I think everything depends on your goals. If your goal is to *complete* a triathlon, you can adjust any triathlon program to accommodate other activities. If you goal is to *compete* in a triathlon, you have to commit.

There are only so many hard workouts, and time to recover from them, you can do in a week. If you end up doing too much, you actually see fewer gains. So, energy and recovery spent doing Crossfit, is energy and recovery taken away from swimming, biking and running.

I view Crossfit as its own sport -- and although there can be some positive overlap (muscle strength and stuff), ultimately

[gumi]

I think everything depends on your goals. If your goal is to *complete* a triathlon, you can adjust any triathlon program to accommodate other activities. If you goal is to *compete* in a triathlon, you have to commit.

There are only so many hard workouts, and time to recover from them, you can do in a week. If you end up doing too much, you actually see fewer gains. So, energy and recovery spent doing Crossfit, is energy and recovery taken away from swimming, biking and running.

I view Crossfit as its own sport -- and although there can be some positive overlap (muscle strength and stuff), ultimately Crossfit makes you good at Crossfit and running makes you good at running (and cycling makes you good at cycling, etc).

This is why seasons are nice for people who choose to seriously do multiple sports.

[trigal]

There is a Crossfit for endurance athletes, but I haven't had a chance to check it out yet. I'm also not sure I want to spend the money. Triathlon is expensive enough as it is!

I am currently training for my third Ironman and, as I did with the others, I do weight training, yoga, and Pilates in addition to swimming, cycling, and running. When my season is more focused on shorter distances (sprint and Olympic), I do even more strength training.

I know that wasn't specific to Crossfit, so take it for what it's worth!

[katinthehat]

trigal - when do you fit in your strength training? do you do it first thing in the morning or add it on after another workout?

[joenali]

Apr 24, 2013 19:45:33 GMT -5 katinthehat said:

trigal - when do you fit in your strength training? do you do it first thing in the morning or add it on after another workout?

I want to know this too. I'm having a hard time with doing it.

[trigal]

Apr 24, 2013 19:45:33 GMT -5 katinthehat said:

trigal - when do you fit in your strength training? do you do it first thing in the morning or add it on after another workout?

Monday morning - strength training (generally plyometrics and functional movement stuff)
Tuesday morning - swim
Tuesday evening - bike
Wednesday morning - yoga
Wednesday evening - long run
Thursday morning - swim
Thursday afternoon/evening - Pilates, then bike (or run-bike-run brick)
Friday morning - swim
Friday afternoon - run with plyometrics in the middle
Saturday - long bike with a short run afterwards
Sunday - shorter bike (2-3 hours)

Yes, it's a crazy schedule.

[starryfish]

Thanks everyone. I'm not looking to "compete" just have fun and complete some.

[katinthehat]

Apr 24, 2013 20:07:43 GMT -5 trigal said:

Apr 24, 2013 19:45:33 GMT -5 katinthehat said:

trigal - when do you fit in your strength training? do you do it first thing in the morning or add it on after another workout?

Monday morning - strength training (generally plyometrics and functional movement stuff)
Tuesday morning - swim
Tuesday evening - bike
Wednesday morning - yoga
Wednesday evening - long run
Thursday morning - swim
Thursday afternoon/evening - Pilates, then bike (or run-bike-run brick)
Friday morning - swim
Friday afternoon - run with plyometrics in the middle
Saturday - long bike with a short run afterwards
Sunday - shorter bike (2-3 hours)

Yes, it's a crazy schedule.

no rest day then?  what activity do you think being sore from strength training impacts the most negatively? 

Right now, my schedule is:
Monday: Run and Swim
Tuesday: Bike and Strength
Wednesday: Run and Swim
Thursday: Bike and Pilates
Friday: Run
Saturday Long Bike or OWS
Sunday: Rest

I'm going to add one more day of strength training in when we get back from vacation but man, it really impacts my running (especially since all my runs are with a single or double stroller.) 

[gumi]

Apr 24, 2013 20:49:27 GMT -5 starryfish said:

Thanks everyone. I'm not looking to "compete" just have fun and complete some.

so how often do you do crossfit?

i would do 1 swim workout, 1 indoor bike workout (intervals, followed by short run) and one outside bike workout (followed by a longer run).  So, if you do crossfit 3 days a week + that, you can still take a rest day/yoga day.  

Also, I dont really call swimming a "workout" unless i do a longer swim or intervals. So, you can probably even get away with calling your swim a rest day and doing 4 days of crossfit, or adding a running day.

[starryfish]

Apr 25, 2013 9:50:41 GMT -5 gumi said:

Apr 24, 2013 20:49:27 GMT -5 starryfish said:

Thanks everyone. I'm not looking to "compete" just have fun and complete some.

so how often do you do crossfit?

i would do 1 swim workout, 1 indoor bike workout (intervals, followed by short run) and one outside bike workout (followed by a longer run).  So, if you do crossfit 3 days a week + that, you can still take a rest day/yoga day.  

Also, I dont really call swimming a "workout" unless i do a longer swim or intervals. So, you can probably even get away with calling your swim a rest day and doing 4 days of crossfit, or adding a running day.

Right now I do 5 times, but could scale this back. We do a lot of sprinting at crossfit, so I think I would only need a long run on the weekend. I plan on doing a long swim 1x a week too. Then a long bike ride too once a week. I might sneak a shorter bike ride in during the week too.

[trigal]

Apr 24, 2013 21:59:52 GMT -5 katinthehat said:

Apr 24, 2013 20:07:43 GMT -5 trigal said:

Monday morning - strength training (generally plyometrics and functional movement stuff)
Tuesday morning - swim
Tuesday evening - bike
Wednesday morning - yoga
Wednesday evening - long run
Thursday morning - swim
Thursday afternoon/evening - Pilates, then bike (or run-bike-run brick)
Friday morning - swim
Friday afternoon - run with plyometrics in the middle
Saturday - long bike with a short run afterwards
Sunday - shorter bike (2-3 hours)

Yes, it's a crazy schedule.

no rest day then?  what activity do you think being sore from strength training impacts the most negatively? 

Right now, my schedule is:
Monday: Run and Swim
Tuesday: Bike and Strength
Wednesday: Run and Swim
Thursday: Bike and Pilates
Friday: Run
Saturday Long Bike or OWS
Sunday: Rest

I'm going to add one more day of strength training in when we get back from vacation but man, it really impacts my running (especially since all my runs are with a single or double stroller.) 

Well, as I head into May (which is next week), I will lose the Monday morning workout because I will be ramping up my other volume so much.   As it is, I'm at 15-16 hours this week and I unfortunately missed my Pilates class today! I will need to take Monday as a rest day, though.  However, I will continue to do some plyometrics either during or after my Friday run.

I am generally not sore after strength training.  I am extremely careful to not increase my weights too much and I try to follow a periodization plan.  I will resume serious strength training in the fall and it will be structured so as not to inflict that type of soreness!  At this point in my IM training, it is difficult to say what is impacted.  I'm entering the phase of being perpetually tired (both muscular tired and aerobically tired) until my recovery week.  For some weird reason, I like the feeling, though...

[katinthehat]

thanks so much for sharing trigal and joenali and others about your long course tri training. It's on the one day list for me so it's pretty cool to hear just what it looks like in real life vs reading a training plan in a book

[Brit]

trigal - I am seriously amazed that you keep up that schedule. I can't even imagine how that would affect my body. You're a rock star!

[marclovesme]

I don't CF, but I do a Bootcamp training group 3-4 days a week and I am training for a sprint triathlon.  I'm stuck in a contract with the training group until end of June, at which point I'm going to quit because I'm bleeding money between that and triathlon stuff.  For now, I've added 2-3 workouts in addition during the week.  My goal is to complete the first one (end of July) and then I'll have a little time before my next to train more intensively (and hopefully improve!).

Good luck!

[suzyp]

I work out with someone who also does tri sprints every few months - she does CF three times a week.

Someone else is training for a full Ironman (and trained for one last May) and continued to do CF three times a week for all of her training until the last two weeks. You may have to cut back on the 5x per week, but you can definitely do 3x per week.

[trigal]

Apr 26, 2013 5:20:23 GMT -5 Brit said:

trigal - I am seriously amazed that you keep up that schedule. I can't even imagine how that would affect my body. You're a rock star!

Thanks!  I eased my way into triathlons, making sure to build a solid cycling base, which can take a few years.  I've done two IM's already, but both with an IT band injury.  I had surgery two years ago and had to re-build my running base.  My longest run is only 13 miles at this point, but I'm still injury-free (knock on wood!).

IM training takes a lot of sacrifice.  I don't spend as much time with family and friends as I normally would, I don't volunteer for a lot of extra stuff, and I am super efficient at work so I don't bring as much home with me.  It helps that DH is also training (for his 8th IM).  There is no justifying to him why we don't go out!

But, in another month or two, I'll be exhausted all the time and probably pretty grumpy too!

Now I'm off to run!